Ireland rental market showed early signs of cooling in the second quarter of 2026, as open-market rents increased at less than one-third of the pace recorded during the first three months of the year. However, the slowdown does not mean the housing shortage is easing evenly. Rental availability has improved strongly outside Dublin, while the capital has continued to lose available homes.
Market rents increased 1.4% between March and June, according to the latest Daft.ie Rental Report. That was a major slowdown from the record 4.4% quarterly increase recorded in the first quarter. It was also slightly below the long-term average quarterly increase of about 1.6% seen over the past decade.
The moderation suggests that the sharp rise recorded at the start of 2026 may have been a one-off adjustment rather than the beginning of another sustained period of rapid rent inflation. Ronan Lyons, professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the report, said the second-quarter figures offer an early view of how Ireland’s housing market is responding to the country’s new rent-control system.
Even so, rental costs remain far above historical levels. The average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment across Ireland reached €2,204 per month. Open-market rents are now about 42% higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic and 78% above levels recorded a decade ago.
Dublin No Longer Leads Rental Growth
The latest figures highlight an important change in Ireland’s housing market. Rental pressure is no longer concentrated mainly in Dublin, as several regional cities are now recording faster annual rent increases.
During the second quarter, market rents were 13.3% higher than a year earlier in Galway city. Rents increased 11.9% in Cork and 10.9% in Limerick. By comparison, Dublin recorded a 6.5% annual increase. Waterford saw a smaller rise of 5.5% over the same period.
The average monthly market rent for a two-bedroom apartment reached €2,634 in Dublin. Galway followed at €2,336, while Limerick averaged €2,244. In Cork, the average was €2,168, compared with €1,637 in Waterford.
Outside Ireland’s largest cities, annual rent inflation remained between roughly 9% and 10% across Leinster, Munster and Connacht-Ulster. As a result, the rental market is becoming increasingly national rather than being driven mainly by the capital.
The geographic change is particularly notable when compared with pre-pandemic trends. Dublin rents remain about one-quarter above their pre-Covid level. However, rents elsewhere have climbed much faster in recent years. Lyons said rents have risen by about 90% in Connacht-Ulster and 75% in Munster over six years, showing how deeply the housing shortage has spread across Ireland.
Rental Supply Recovers Outside Dublin
Rental availability has also started to recover, but the improvement remains highly uneven across the country.
Just under 2,400 homes were available to rent nationwide on Aug. 1, representing an increase of about 5% from a year earlier. At first glance, that increase could suggest that the rental market is beginning to move toward better balance. However, the national figure hides a major divide between Dublin and the rest of Ireland.
Available rental stock in Dublin fell 18% year over year to fewer than 1,150 homes. Outside the capital, meanwhile, availability increased by roughly 40%. This means that most of the recent improvement in rental listings has occurred in regional markets rather than in Dublin.
Despite the increase, Ireland remains far below its normal level of rental availability. Before the pandemic, more than 4,300 homes were typically available to rent at any given time, according to the report.
Lyons cautioned that the latest increase in listings should not necessarily be viewed as a major expansion of the overall rental stock. Instead, much of the improvement appears to have reversed an earlier delay in new listings. The number of homes newly offered for rent over the past year was effectively unchanged compared with the previous year.
Therefore, Ireland is experiencing an unusual combination of slower rent growth and a continuing shortage of homes. The pressure on renters may be easing at the margin, but the underlying supply problem remains severe.
Ireland’s Rental Market Is Changing
The latest figures also point to a significant shift in the relationship between Dublin and other parts of Ireland.
For much of the 2010s, renting a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin cost almost three times as much as renting a similar property in Connacht-Ulster. That gap has now fallen to less than two times, according to Lyons.
This does not mean Dublin has suddenly become affordable. Instead, it reflects the much faster increase in rents across other regions. As housing demand has spread, regional cities and surrounding communities have experienced stronger rental inflation.
For policymakers, that change carries important implications. Ireland’s housing shortage can no longer be viewed mainly as a Dublin problem. The shortage has become a national issue, with some of the fastest rent increases now occurring outside the capital.
“The rental scarcity is a national problem,” Lyons said, emphasizing that policies designed to increase the supply of market-rental homes must work across the country rather than focusing only on Dublin.
For renters, the second-quarter slowdown provides some relief after the unusually sharp increases recorded earlier in 2026. However, that relief remains limited. Rents are still substantially above pre-pandemic levels, while the number of homes available remains well below historical norms.
As a result, Ireland’s rental market continues to face a fundamental supply challenge. Slower rent growth may reduce some immediate pressure, but without a sustained increase in housing supply, affordability is likely to remain a major concern for renters across the country.
